Comments on: Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units I

By: Russell

Russell — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:08:14 +0000

when I transfer the Icons to or From the GPS thec are Scrambled?????? Can’t figure it…Help

By: Ted Burger

Ted Burger — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:27:39 +0000

Creating the graphic is trivial on a Mac (Graphic Converter), but we will probably never get the software to transfer them to a Garmin GPSr.

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:45:14 +0000

It’s unlikely that changes in the OS or the GPS firmware will render custom waypoints unusable on units that currently support them. I took a quick look through the manual for the new Garmin Colorado series, and there’s no mention of supporting custom waypoint symbols, which is a bit odd. I find myself highly unimpressed by the Colorado series, at least based on the manual - too expensive, too big a change in the OS, for not much more (if any) functionality.

There is a symbol for stadiums on the Garmin, but it’s not in the Civil section as you say. I may have a solution for your problem posted early next week ;-).

By: MtnBiker

MtnBiker — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:29:10 +0000

I give up. I looked at Mapsource and the symbols are different than my 60CSx, and organized differently. For example, cities aren’t shown under Civil as they are in MS. GPS has no stadium–at least under civil.

And what I really want are symbols for traveling and mountain biking. I imagine if I do my own, they’ll be out of date or incompatible with the next update (os GPS or software). I keep wanting a symbol for an Internet Cafes (important in thrid world countries–I’m now using the post office symbol). Saddles/pass–more of those on trails and roads than summits.

I’ll just have to wait for Garmin or whatever unit I end up with next. But thanks for the info supplied.

By: MtnBiker

MtnBiker — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:24:54 +0000

Thanks. I was hoping someone had done it. The Garmin one is rather incomplete (surprise!). But I can fire up MapSource (since I’m on a Mac I use it little).

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:57:16 +0000

There’s no complete and easy-to-use list I know of. Garmin has a Map Legend page on their website that lists some of them:

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/mapLegend.html

If you create a waypoint in MapSource, and click on the “Symbol” dropdown menu, all of the available graphic symbols will be shown; move your cursor over a symbol in the dropdown, and the symbol name will pop up.

By: MtnBiker

MtnBiker — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:29:43 +0000

Thanks for the article. Related question: Is there a list of the meanings of the symbols? I get confused on many of them. (Garmin should put the definition at the top of the screen for whichever icon you’ve got selected.)